10 Utterly Strange Animal Smuggling Stories

Animal smuggling is no joke: It ignores the welfare of the animals being smuggled, brings some species ever closer to extinction, and increases the risk of harming native animals and environments through disease. Wildlife trafficking is on the rise—a Moody’s Analytics report indicated that it surged 150 percent between 2018 and 2021—and generates up to $23 billion every year for transnational criminal organizations, making it their “fourth-largest funding source,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.     

Not every animal smuggler is connected to a larger criminal organization. But there’s no denying that for some people, wildlife trafficking can be really profitable. And for each of the stories on this list—which is adapted from the above episode of The List Show on YouTube—there are many, many other similar stories. We’re featuring stories that are weird and quirky in their own way, but we want to be clear that animal smuggling is not a laughing matter.

1. The Woman Who Smuggled Fish in Her Skirt
2. The Man Who Stole Falcon Eggs
3. Snakes in the Pants
4. Rare Birds in Pants
5. Hair Roller Finches
6. Spiders on a Plane
7. “Pregnant” With a Monkey
8. Real or Cake?
9. Leopards in Luggage
10. The Croc That Caused a Crash

The Woman Who Smuggled Fish in Her Skirt

In June 2005, an Australian woman landed at Melbourne Airport after a vacation in Singapore and was stopped by customs officials. The skirt she was wearing bulged oddly, and they could hear what was described as “‘flipping’ noises” coming from it. 

It turns out that under her skirt, she wore an apron with pockets, into which she had slipped 15 bags containing 51 fish that she was illegally smuggling into the country, including an endangered Asian arowana, valued at a total of $30,000. 

She hadn’t flown all the way from Singapore with the animals in her skirt, though. According to The Age, the woman had packed the fish in her suitcase and went to the bathroom after she landed so she could transfer them to the apron, which she had created especially for hiding them.

The woman faced an AU$110,000 fine and as much as 10 years in jail. She pled guilty and was sentenced to nine months of community service, but unfortunately, the fish had to be destroyed—they just posed too much risk to native wildlife. 

The Man Who Stole Falcon Eggs

Notorious smuggler Jeffrey Lendrum’s exploits are profiled in Joshua Hammer’s book The Falcon Thief. Lendrum has spent decades going to incredible lengths to obtain the eggs of endangered falcons—like dangling from a helicopter to pluck eggs from nests on cliffs—and then sneak them into the very large legal trade of birds of prey.

In just one smuggling incident that occurred in May 2010, Lendrum was at Birmingham Airport in the UK waiting to catch a flight to South Africa with a layover in Dubai when officials discovered he had over a dozen eggs in socks that were taped to his torso. His explanation? They were duck eggs that he was wearing to reduce his chronic lower back pain, something he said had been suggested to him by his physiotherapist. But if they were just duck eggs, why was there an incubator in his car? 

In reality, the eggs belonged to peregrine falcons; Lendrum had taken them from around Wales and put them around his torso to keep them warm during travel so they would continue to incubate. In fact, they were just a few days from hatching. Lendrum pled guilty to the crime and received a sentence of 30 months in prison. The eggs were confiscated, and 11 of them ultimately survived. This was not Lendrum’s first offense, nor would it be his last. 

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Snakes in the Pants

Forget about snakes on a plane—how about snakes in your pants? In July 2024, a man was caught trying to smuggle snakes out of Hong Kong into Shenzhen by concealing the reptiles in his pants. In his pockets, he carried six canvas bags closed with tape in which he had stored a total of 104 snakes “in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colors,” according to a statement by customs officials. 

Rare Birds in Pants

One thing becomes obvious when you read enough of these animal smuggling stories is that pants are a common place to conceal animals. People even hide birds there—like the Australian man who tried to smuggle live pigeons into the country by strapping one to each of his legs in 2009. 

But that’s nothing compared to the Dutch traveler who was arrested in French Guiana with live hummingbirds in his crotch. The man wrapped more than a dozen of the birds in cloth, secured them with tape, and popped them in rows of pouches in a piece of cloth that appeared to be cut from a pair of underwear, which he then buttoned to the inside of the front of his pants. 

Hair Roller Finches

In the Caribbean and South America, singing matches are popular—only the singing isn’t between human contestants. Instead, humans try to get their male finches to sing as many songs as possible. The practice has made its way to the U.S., and with it, so has finch smuggling. 

In 2021, a man coming from Guyana to New York was nabbed at JFK with 29 finches hidden in hair rollers, which seems to be a common way to conceal the birds: In separate incidents, one man was caught with bird-filled rollers in his suitcase; another hid them in a suit jacket; and yet another had them in his socks. According to the Fish & Wildlife Service, the birds can be worth up to $10,000 each. The smugglers are trying to get around the quarantine period for birds, which they believe hinders their training—and therefore their ability to win competitions.  

Spiders on a Plane

In 2009, a 26-year-old UK man on a layover in Rio de Janeiro was stopped after a random bag scan showed he had spiders in his suitcases. And it wasn’t just a couple of spiders: According to some reports, he had more than 900 spiders in his suitcases, packaged in individual white boxes. 

The man had obtained the arachnids in Paraguay and was reportedly hoping to sell them when he got back to the UK. It’s unclear if he got paperwork from Paraguay that authorized him to take the spiders home, but Brazil, where he had his layover, said he didn’t have the proper authorization to take them out of the country. The spiders went to a local museum, and the man had to stay in the country while charges were being sorted out.

“Pregnant” With a Monkey

In 2007, a 27-year-old pregnant woman boarded a plane from Bangkok back to the U.S., accompanied by her mother. Or at least, the woman looked pregnant. But she actually had a sedated juvenile rhesus macaque monkey concealed under her shirt. The duo and the monkey made it into the U.S.; they were nabbed only after they walked around with it. The monkey was sent to a primate rescue center and the women were sentenced to 60 days in prison followed by supervised release.  

Real or Cake?

There’s no question that bakers can create some incredibly realistic cakes these days—in fact, it’s led to a whole genre of entertainment where people ask themselves whether or not random objects are cakes. But one German animal smuggler decided to take it to a whole other level. The passenger, who was coming into the country from Cairo and said he had nothing to declare, had three live and endangered Moroccan tortoises in a pastry box. You could literally see their shells through the plastic cover. The man tried to claim that they were chocolate, but officials didn’t fall for it. The animals were confiscated and taken to a vet. 

Leopards in Luggage

Leopard print luggage is pretty cool. Leopards in your luggage? Not so much. 

In 2011, authorities at the international airport in Bangkok, Thailand, stopped a 36-year-old citizen of the United Arab Emirates who had allegedly bought animals on the black market and was attempting to take them to Dubai. In his luggage, they found not just two baby leopards, but two panthers, two macaque monkeys, and an Asiatic bear cub. The animals had been sedated and, in the words of one person present at the bust, placed “in flat cages so they couldn’t move around much … The guy had a virtual zoo in his suitcases.”     

This happens more than you might expect. In 2010, officials found a sedated tiger cub in the luggage of a woman flying from Bangkok to Iran; she’d attempted to conceal it among tiger stuffed animals. And in 2019, a passenger who had just landed in India from Bangkok was stopped after weird noises were heard coming from his bag. Inside, they found a small leopard cub in a plastic bag that one person said “was in a state of shock … and appeared to be weak.” The animal was assessed by a vet and later taken to a local zoo.

The Croc That Caused a Crash

This might be the wildest smuggling story on this list—if it’s true. 

In 2010, a small propellor airplane was descending to an airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when it crashed, killing all but two who had been aboard. Investigators initially suspected the plane had crashed from lack of fuel, but one of the survivors claimed that the crash had been caused by the other survivor of the crash: a crocodile.

According to the story, another passenger had intended to sell the animal, which was concealed in his duffle bag. But the animal escaped, and the passengers in the plane panicked, causing the aircraft to become unbalanced and the pilots to lose control. The crocodile reportedly survived the crash, but was later killed with a machete.

Is the story true? It originated with only one source, and experts have raised doubts. One, interviewed by The Guardian, said, “If this were the cause of the accident it is truly extraordinary … I would say it's extremely unlikely this story holds water but I wouldn’t rule it out completely.” So: take it with a grain of salt.